new motogp owners wanted it to moved to albert park. vic govt said no dice.
last year the aus gp corp wanted the park closure for the gp to be increased from one week to three weeks. govt tested the waters on changing the legislation and were shouted down very loudly from all directions.
having the motogp there as well would push that three weeks out to probably at best 4-5 at worst 10-12 given everything you’d need to do to the joint to make it suitable for the bikes.
surely you jest, f1 is way more important to more people and our economy
albert park is trash
life doesn’t have to be a balance sheet
tell me about it
i was on the master plan committee recently to determine what upgrades/changes should be made (outside of the lakeside/msac precinct). the “raze the lot and start again” idea was given a lot more consideration than you’d think.
-edit- in one meeting i joked “how committed are we to the lake being that shape?” about three minutes discussion later i had to sheepishly declare that i was joking so it wouldn’t go any further
Wind, rain, crowds, maybe a bit isolated.
I love the place and riding off the island back to Melbourne after the race is bucket list material.
Yeah I rode back to Geelong last year. Knackered but so fun with all of the bikes on the road, riding at 100kph and having somebody overtake at warp speed doing a mono.
There’s no doubt at all that PI has remained a throwback to 1970’s / 1980’s motorcycle culture. The facilities are junk, you need to enjoy the old-school rally type atmosphere with camping as a large part of the available accommodation, dealing with the elements was an experience you either loved or hated, getting on and off the island is a journey of lust for anyone who rides and a diabolical trial for those who don’t and the general vibes of seeing paddocks of bikes is a thing for …well…probably only motorcyclists. But Liberty Media aren’t overly interested in the hard core motorcyclist fans, they want their races and championships to be an event in which the actual motor racing is almost an adjunct to the overall show. F1 racing is nowhere near as good as it once was ( imo) , Albert Park is a poor track in terms of racing technicalities and yet the series itself is bigger than it’s ever been because casual “fans” feel the need to be present , half the world apparently watch drive to survive or whatever it’s called etc etc.
I love PI because I love motorcycling , I’ve ridden the track and understand how good, and how nuts, these guys at the top are , and I came through in the late 80’s and 90’s when the rawness of the event was still obvious, and I love that the ever changing weather was a task to be accepted and dealt with as the price of entry to the world’s best racing. The modern trend for these events is a more detached (from the actual activity) following that wants luxury and entertainment and a feeling that they’re part of it all without necessarily ever understanding the activity itself. Pretty much everyone drives , but a small minority of people ( in Australia at least) ride motorcycles . So it’ll be interesting to see if Liberty really understand the series that they now own. The F1 model might work in Europe , particularly Spain and Italy , where the public interest might be inherently higher, but Im not sure it works here. And choosing the glitzy pathway over the world’s best motogp track ( in many riders opinion, and it’s certainly in the top few due to the layout and speed) is symptomatic of the new outlook.
In the meanwhile , the refusal for 20+ years to understand that running a massive international motorsport event using temporary stands and portaloos around a cow paddock that often turned to mud was going to bite you on the arse at some point was sheer idiocy.
I hope Adelaide / SA do great things with it. I’ll certainly go, it’ll be a great pilgrimage on the bike. Though it must be said, that my old (in every sense) riding companions are dwindling. There’s an attrition to this activity, in body , mind and sometimes life. Blitz just recently lost one of its own to the pursuit of riding. That too is part of the culture, unfortunately, something that we all know and ultimately accept. Or don’t. And move on. But like Albert Park, I fear that the racing and track become secondary to the money making. Which of course is what Liberty actively wants. That is their model. The question will be, can they attract enough people who aren’t overly interested in motorcycles themselves to offset the potential loss of those who are certainly part of the traditional bike scene. And what sacrifices will be made in racing and/or safety to get what they are chasing. It’s difficult to see how , if they want a true street circuit, they aren’t compromising on one or both of those things.
Very good summary.
I don’t know how much of a success it will be but generally the SA public get fully behind events so I guess they are hoping this is the same. If we can get over 280k to the Supercars and 150k plus to Golf then I think it’s possible that we get some decent crowds to a MotoGP event. The key will be creating something that people want to come back to year after year and not just a once off.
I honestly shudder to think of the costing but it does sound like The Bend will host the 2027 event before the race moves into the CBD for 2028. The talk is also that SA will also host the Superbikes from 2028 and I’d presume the Bend will host that
I’ve no doubt that SA will do an excellent job within whatever parameters they’ve promised Liberty. I just hope that they haven’t promised a “street circuit” without fully understanding what that actually is.
The WSB is interesting, it’s a series that has been in decline for two decades and I’m not sure the venue is part of its troubles. Back in the 90’s , the WSB was the more outrageous and fun of the two weekends to attend , lol.
Absolutely this.
Guess we will find out more today as Carlos Ezpeleta flew into Adelaide from Dubai last night and I’d imagine some sort of announcement today
I will be at PI this weekend, haven’t been to the GP for quite a number of years, the WSB is a better event as it is the motorcycling lovers that go. I think part of the reason Vic lost the GP is because the govt is skint and motorcyclists are a small group, the govt has never given a rats tossbag about them.. Anyways me and the regular group of old fossils will be there, the only thing that has changed over the half a century we have been going is that instead of going on a weekend bender, we all sit around drinking coffee and eating ice cream.
Or unrealistic ambitions from the event organisers. As we will find out here, it’s going to cost an obscene amount of coin to get a street circuit up to standard. Maybe the Boc government crunched the numbers and it didn’t make financial sense
Partly.
But putting aside my disappointment, it’s interesting to see the hand ringing and comments about economic impact from some down on the coast. The locals and the council have long opposed a full development of the race track site. I don’t blame them for being concerned about environmental impact and preserving the locality. But you can’t have it both ways. If the race track wasn’t there , and you went to Bass Council asking permission to build one, you’d never ever get approval. So there’s quite a few factors in play , with quite a few different entities at “fault” , but ultimately the door was left open because whilst you’ll tolerate the event to bring in money and tourism, there isn’t the appetite to do what needs to be done to keep it.
And so it becomes a curiosity . One of the best , highest speed and visually striking tracks on the planet becomes a rarely used white elephant on some picturesque farmland coasts.
I heading down there for the Phillip Island Festival next month to relive my childhood.
Aside from the Warrnambool Sprintcar Classic, it’s my favourite motorsport event & that’s due in a large part the track itself.
Just stunning!
Official announcement that it will be a street circuit for 2027
So much for rider safety!
Going to clean out the state coffers to upgrade the track to meet safety standards
Track is a different configuration than the Supercars/F1 layout. They’ve removed a fair bit of the staircase, and after the hairpin it goes into the old (horse) racing track which is obviously all open and will have big run off areas. Will still need to upgrade safety requirements for about half the circuit and imagine a whole bunch of the pitch to get it here would be surrounding rider safety.
Will this event attract good looking men like the F1 does? And not like the ones who I’ve seen at the Supercars?
I sincerely hope it’s a raging success.
But GP motorcycles haven’t run on real street circuits for decades , and part of that is due to the fatality rates. It’s going to be a very interesting watch to see the track layout.
A curious aspect to this is that as of next year the engine and aerodynamics rules change. A driving factor in this is that a lot of the existing tracks can no longer meet the run off / safety requirements that ever increasing mid-corner speeds require. So the intent is to reduce cornering speeds by removing down force, reducing engine capacities, removing ride height devices etc etc. Phillip Island , ironically , as one of the fastest tracks on the planet, could provide the safety margins needed.
So to see SA commit to a street circuit , which I presume MUST be an inherently slower track irrespective of the rule changes , is going to be a fascinating layout.